The collector car market, in your inbox
Classic car news, hand-picked vehicles, and auction coverage. Choose what lands in your inbox.
A well-kept, three-owner example of Suzuki's original hyperbike is back up for grabs, and this time there's no floor on the price. The 12k-Mile 2004 Suzuki GSX1300R Hayabusa is currently on auction at Hagerty Marketplace, with no-reserve bidding open through August 18.
When Suzuki introduced the Hayabusa in 1999, it wasn't just launching another sport bike, it was chasing a top-speed crown. Named for the peregrine falcon, a bird capable of diving at more than 180 mph, the GSX1300R briefly held the title of the world's fastest production motorcycle. By the time this 2004 example rolled off the line, Suzuki had smoothed out the fuel injection and sharpened the rideability without dulling any of the drama.
This particular Hayabusa shows roughly 11,900 miles and wears its Pearl Nebular Black paint with deep metallic purple accents well, aside from some expected paint wear. Underneath sits the stock 1299cc liquid-cooled inline-four, paired to a six-speed manual with a hydraulic clutch, an aluminum twin-spar frame, fully adjustable 43mm inverted forks, and Tokico brakes with six-piston front calipers. The seller, who bought the bike in July 2019, says it has had only three owners, all self-described older gentlemen who kept it garaged and well serviced. A set of Yoshimura slip-on mufflers is currently installed, though the stock exhaust is included with the sale, along with a recent battery and fresh Bridgestone tires.
Chassis records tie the bike back to Suzuki's Japan assembly line via its VIN, and beyond a slightly larger shifter peg, this Hayabusa appears to be mechanically stock. That matters to collectors, since unmolested first-generation Hayabusas with real service history are getting harder to find as more examples get parted out or turned into modified track bikes.
Interestingly, this isn't the bike's first trip through the marketplace. It reportedly sold once before, in June, but the winning bidder didn't complete the purchase, through no fault of the bike or seller. That history explains why it's back up now at no reserve, with bidding already past $2,100 across 10 bids as of this writing.
For buyers trying to figure out what a bike like this should actually cost, Hagerty's own Valuation Tools are worth a look before placing a bid. Early-2000s Hayabusas occupy an odd corner of the collector market, too modern to be nostalgic, but old enough that clean, low-mile, unmodified examples are starting to command a premium over the parts-bike stragglers that make up most used listings. A bike with documented ownership and no non-stock modifications tends to sit toward the top of that range, the same kind of exercise Motorious walked through recently with the Zenvo Aurora hypercar duo, using Hagerty's data to frame where a future collectible might land before the market decides for itself.
Motorcycles haven't historically gotten the same market spotlight as the muscle cars and exotics chasing bids on Hagerty Marketplace, but that's starting to shift, and JDM-adjacent performance icons are part of the reason why. Suzuki's own oddball corner of enthusiast culture stretches well beyond sport bikes, as Motorious found with this 531-unit Suzuki Cara Kei coupe that turned heads on Cars & Bids earlier this month. And the Hayabusa is far from the only vehicle proving that no-reserve auctions can bring out real bidding energy, as this numbers-matching 1971 Oldsmobile 442 convertible recently demonstrated on the same platform.
With a week left on the clock and no reserve to clear, this Hayabusa is shaping up to be one of the more interesting motorcycle auctions to watch this month.
